Romanian Economic and Business Review – Vol. 5, No. 1
159
DEMOGRAPHIC, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND GEOGRAPHIC
FEATURES – SHAPING FACTORS OF THE TOURIST MARKET
Mirela Mazilu, Sabina Mitroi∗
Abstract
One of the major themes which have more and more importance at a European level, but also
at a national level, is the demographic evolution and its effects in the different fields of the social and
economic life. The demographic trends which affect Romania, emphasized in the demographic
prognoses, require a more complex approach, from the perspective of the development projects which
the local authorities are initiating, within the operational programs, based especially on the objectives
of the Regional Operational Program – REGIO. In order to clarify the connection between
demography and development, between demography and tourism, we must underline the analysis of
the demographic situation and the demographic prognoses on a medium and long term, which serve to
the correct foundation of the plans and development strategies, regardless of the field of life and social
activity, so exposed to the current metamorphoses.
Keywords: demography, tourism, tourist market, development, strategy.
JEL Classification: J1, J11, A11
The demographic changes we are witnessing in recent decades represent an
increasing concern at European and global levels, demonstrated by the fact that
many demographers and economists have drawn warnings, concerning some
alarming demographic trends, with negative effects on many economic branches ,
including tourism, like:
reduced fertility and birth,
increased inequalities between age groups
the aging of the population,
increased external migration.
Studies show that the aging of the population will increase in Europe and will
increasingly affect the economic and social life. Developments expected by the year
2060 for each Member of the European Union and their implications are discussed
in the recent Report on the Aging Population, report prepared by the General
Directorate for Economy and Finance of the European Commission and the
Economic Policy Committee.
Data from the European Commission’s report show an increase, at European
level, in the share of population of 65 years and older, from 17% in 2008 to 30% of
∗
Mirela Mazilu is Professor of Economic Geography and Tourism Tourism at the University of
Craiova – University Centre of Drobeta Turnu Severin. E-mail: mirelamazilu2004@yahoo.com.
Sabina Mitroi is Assistant Professor of Tourism at the University of Craiova – University Centre of
Drobeta Turnu Severin.
160 Demographic, social, economic and geographic features – shaping factors of the tourist market
the total in 2060. The report provides for Romania an increase in the share of
population of 65 years and older from 15% in 2008 to 35% in 2060.
According to the projections, Romania is in the process of demographic aging.
This age group will have high needs in terms of health and social services. It is about
care arrangements on the one hand, and the provision of specific facilities for people
no longer working, but who have requirements regarding education, culture and
accommodation for leisure. At all levels listed above, the social and health costs will
increase because of the old people’s pressure on the active population, more reduced
in number.
Considering the fact that now, after Romania’s EU accession, a process of
opening labour markets will take place gradually it is possible that the mutations that
appear to exceed the projected trends and the decline to be amplified.
All this clearly shows that the results of population forecasts developments are
of considerable importance for all planning processes and that in future they will
have to be taken into account.
Hospitality and tourism represent a profession, and understanding of hospitality
and tourism are skills that require specialized training and experience. However,
many people are involved in this phenomenon directly or indirectly and need to
know basic principles.
It is very difficult to quantitatively identify needs for future workforce in the
hospitality and tourism sector in Romania. Currently, a large number of people who
have completed a training program or university go to find a job abroad. Also, a large
number of people who have begun their career in one of the big international chains
after finishing school leave Romania after several months of practical experience.
It is estimated that less than 20% of high school or university graduates
specialized in tourism with programs of interest work in the hospitality and tourism
sector in Romania.
The records on the number of personnel leaving abroad and their level of
training do not exist. Also, there are no records on the average duration of their stay.
Also, there are no records about the duration of their absence. A rough estimate
of the number should be between 10 and 20% of those with basic education in
tourism and a diploma offered by one of the existing high schools offering training
programs in tourism.
What the hospitality sector needs in particular is trained staff and not university
graduates with theoretical training.
In the year 2008, employment resources in Romania (population aged 15-64
years) were 15.05 million persons, up 100 thousand compared to 2002. Employment
rate was in 2007 of 58.8%, without notable changes to the figures of 2002, being well
below the 70% target set by the Lisbon strategy for all European Union for 2010. In
qualitative terms, however, there is a significant progress: the number of employees
was in 2007 with almost 500 thousand higher than in 2002, reducing employment in
agriculture properly. The share of highly educated people of the total employment
Romanian Economic and Business Review – Vol. 5, No. 1
161
(from 11% in 2002 to over 14% in 2007) and those with secondary education (from
62.9% in 2002 to about 65% in 2007) increased, which was reflected in sustained
growth in labour productivity. At the same time the labour market unbalances
widened, with some sectors or professions workforce shortages. Employment
resources are reduced because of the current retirement age (less than 58 years for
women and 63.5 for men), significantly lower than age limit of activity. Youth
unemployment remains high, around 21%. Overall, we notice that Romania has
untapped potential labour resources at a rate of about 30%, which creates premises
for solving partially and on a short term some of the problems created by labour
shortages. There is also a definite trend for more efficient use of human capital on
the labour market.
Figures on migration (immigration and emigration of legal permanent) have not
been, after 1995, statistically significant (around 10-15 thousand less per year).
Instead, temporary migration for work abroad, mainly to EU countries in the West,
is expected in spring 2008, to be of about 2 million.
This is, in particular, about the young adults who, if they decide to become
residents of those countries by naturalization, will seriously affect the balance of age
and birth preliminary contribution. We should take into account the fact that, while
maintaining a significant gap between the living standards and prospects for
professional and personal achievement in the country, the attraction of temporary or
permanent emigration will remain strong, taking into account the needs of the more
developed partner countries in the EU facing the same problems of demographic
aging and birth rates decrease.
The concept of mobility implies instructive, cultural and tourist movement, as
well as international cooperation and exchange. Mobility provides an open
communication with other societies and cultures, which includes knowledge,
tolerance and diversity mutual respect. In addition to social learning through
intercultural approach, mobility facilitates the exchange of ideas and enriches
experience.
Economic and geo-demographic segmentation (also called descriptive
segmentation) helps to define a profile of the segments described above, using other
segmentation criteria. Descriptive segmentation is most easily achieved; data can
often be obtained without effort from the statistical yearbook and other publications,
or from research institutions against a small cost.
Although descriptive segmentation is useful in the decisions on the choice of
advertising and selecting channels, in most cases the demographic profile of the
customers can not be an adequate basis for the management of an effective
marketing campaign on its own. This is because people having similar economic and
demographic characteristics are often very different in terms of motivations, desires,
behaviour, purposes for practising tourism and so on.
For example, demographic variable “age”, taken in isolation, tells us virtually
nothing about a potential tourist. It is certainly expected that tastes and preferences
162 Demographic, social, economic and geographic features – shaping factors of the tourist market
in terms of tourism for people with different ages to be significantly different. Also,
there will be differences between married and unmarried persons, between those
with children or without.
The main demographic and socio-economic criteria used by experts in tourism
market segmentation are described in Figure 1:
- age,
- family life cycle,
- income,
- education level,
- nationality,
- religion.
Picture 1: The influential factors of the tourist market segmentation (the author’s
adaptation)
THE AGE+
THE LIFE CYCLE
OF THE FAMILY
THE EDUCATION
LEVEL + THE
RELIGION
The influential
factors of the
tourist market
segmentation
THE INCOME*
THE CRISIS
THE NATIONALITY
For the first two criteria listed above (age and family life cycle) we present here a
Finnish tourist market segmentation, implemented in 1994 by Gallup-Media Institute
of Finland. Thus, market segments described following the study were:
• “the video games generation”, aged between 12 and 14 years, it is about
children who strongly influence parents’ choices regarding destinations and vacation
activities;
• “the generation of consumption”, aged 15 to 24 years, is a segment consisting
of adolescents and young people, mostly unmarried;
Romanian Economic and Business Review – Vol. 5, No. 1
163
• “the wealth generation”, aged 25-34, some of them married but without
children or with one child, usually aged up to 7 years;
• “the suburban generation”, aged 35 -44 years, formed, in general, of couples
with children between 7 and 15 years;
• “the generation of social change”, aged between 45 and 54, a segment
consisting of couples without children or whose children have already left the house
parents;
• “the war and lacks generation”; made up of people aged between 55 and 64,
retired couples or single pensioners;
• “the seniors”, that segment of the elderly over 55 years.
As the Professor Adrian Gherasim shows in his study: Tourism marketing,
Economic Publishing House, 2009, Bucharest, interesting age segments for tourism
marketing in terms of behaviour are:
childhood (when the emphasis is on entertainment games and movement),
adolescence (when cheap trips without outstanding conditions, hiking, games,
educational and cultural tourism offer are preferred),
first youth (when preferences are turned to those offers that ensure fulfilment
of personality),
second youth (when the trend towards relaxation and rest accentuates),
and old (often when the demand for products and services related to medical
tourism occurs).
The income may lead to the following market segments as well:
poor tourists, whose income exceeds the minimum subsistence level and who
rarely resort to tourism. They are interested not so much in the comfort and the
quality of the service, but in the price;
average condition tourists who form the majority of customers, more
demanding in relation to the comfort, more willing to spend money on various
services and open to the new;
luxury travellers, high and very large incomes, very demanding in terms of the
quality of the services as well as willing to pay.
In these categories, the above-listed, I would allow myself to add a
circumstantial, even undesirable category even for tourists sanctioned by the
measures imposed by governments, which solve “management incompetence” by
unexplained reductions in wages or “worked” bonuses (e.g. bonus for the PhD, or
the competence one from the higher education, designed to encourage and motivate
real competence, so blasphemed in the higher education), or for tour operators,
travel agencies, stake-holders etc., who see their dreams, their relations with foreign
partners, even their investments shattered.
Crisis tourists, who we see more and more on television, forced to sell their
holiday tickets difficultly purchased and giving up other family expenses or, even
worse, crisis tourists who choose to spend the holidays in much cheaper destinations,
more accessible to their budget so tried by the metamorphoses of the global
164 Demographic, social, economic and geographic features – shaping factors of the tourist market
economic crisis.
The level of education is important, especially for some types of tourism such as
the cultural tourism. People with elementary or middle education are particularly
motivated by the desire to rest and fun when they travel, while people with higher
education levels have often reasons related to status, prestige or self-fulfilment (more
details can be found in the chapter regarding the conduct of tourists). The tourist
attracted by the cultural tourism is often an educated person, with morality, who
requires high quality services. The tourist guide for such groups is highly skilled,
aware and directly interested in the preservation and the respect for natural tourist
landscape.
The framework program 6 and the new European Union Framework Program 7
pay attention to the sustainable tourism development through cultural tourism.
The influence of the development of cultural tourism in Romania has started
showing. The failure of the amusement park related to the project “Dracula Land” is
good for those who try to substitute the image of an uncertain ex-communist
country, with the bloody past with vampires legends, with the country image formed
of the Carpathians, the Danube and the Black Sea, with history and rich culture, with
monasteries of rare beauty, with old university centre cities, with traditional villages
and welcoming people.
The qualified personnel for tourist activities is crucial to the successful
development of tourism and to the assurance of that high level of service that
tourists expect and they pay for. Local authorities must assess the needs for qualified
staff, anywhere and at anytime.
Each area must improve education in tourism and training needs and must
determine how to meet them. If the relevant national or regional institutions do exist,
local authorities should encourage local people to attend them. If the estimations
show that the local area will be a major tourist area, it may be appropriate to create a
local institute of tourism or a tourism department at a vocational school. The tourism
office will be to work with private sector enterprises to develop the most appropriate
programs. The tourism office will have to identify the opportunities for their staff, in
order to receive the necessary training in tourism management, often through
regional, national and international programs. The World Tourism Organization can
assist the tourism office in providing training, may recommend training institutions
and international programs, including short-term programs for tourism management.
The nationality is important for the international tourist market segmentation.
Here are some examples of the criterion used for segmentation: some providers in
the tourism industry particularly restaurants - are specialised in specific national
elements; the tourist attractions draw up their information documents (restaurant
menu or price list) in several languages, depending on the nationality of tourists that
visit most frequently, for example, in the Danube Bend area, tourist hostels are
geared to attract tourists from Hungary and the Netherlands, while Drobeta Turnu
Severin attracts Canadian and American tourists, even Japanese, and on Mallorca
Romanian Economic and Business Review – Vol. 5, No. 1
165
Island, some seaside resorts are oriented towards the segment of German tourists,
while others towards British tourists.
The religion is important as well, as the segmentation criterion for operators
carrying out a significant part of their turnover based on pilgrimages. For example, in
the MehedinŃi area, full of valuable ecumenical monuments, recognized both
nationally and internationally, a new type of tourism has recently taken shape, in the
year 2009: the tourism of “memories”, meaning that tourists or refugees already
settled in Hungary, return and call on memory to find their roots, seeking in the
above-mentioned area either the Austro-Hungarian border, or identity, religion,
common education elements.
Tourism as the other activities of the national economic cycle has built in time a
market of its own, defined by factors with specific occurrence and determined by the
economic, social, political, geographical and motivational nature. The diversity of
market variables and the variety of the materialization forms of the tourist market
factors limit the possibility of thorough knowledge of it, the risk of entering the
tourist market without a prior analysis being great as well.
References
Baker S., Bradley, P., Huyton, J., The Principles of the Operations at the Hotel
Reception, ALL Beck Publishing House, Bucharest, 2002.
Bavoux, J., Bavoux, D, Géographie humaine des littoraux maritimes, A, Collin, 1998.
Ioncică, M., The Economy of services, Uranus Publishing House, Bucharest, 2000.
Lupu, N., The Hotel - Economy and management, the 4th edition, All Beck
Publishing House, Bucharest, 2003.
Minciu, R., The Economy of Tourism, Uranus Publishing House, Bucharest, 2000.
NiŃă, I., NiŃă, C., The Tourism Market of Romania, Ecran Magazin Publishing
House, Braşov, 2000.
Mitroi M., the Predictions of the World Organization of Tourism: 2000 – 2010, Tribuna
Economică Magazine, Bucharest, no. 27/2000.
Mazilu M., - Ecotourism and Tourist Arrangements, Scrisul Românesc Publishing
House, Craiova, 2004
Mazilu M., Tourist Geography, Didactical and Pedagogical Publishing House,
Bucharest, 2007
Mazilu M., Le tourisme roumain dans le contexte du tourisme europeen, Universitaria
Publishing House, Craiova, 2007
Mazilu M., Marinescu R., The Globalisation Impact on the Romanian Tourism, article
defended and published on the site of the IASK Conference (International
Association for the Scientific Knowledge)- Advances in Tourism Research, Portugal,
26-28 May 2008, http://www.iask-web.org/atr08/programme.html and www.iaskweb-org/publications. html
Mazilu M., Marinescu R., Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas – Case Study of the
166 Demographic, social, economic and geographic features – shaping factors of the tourist market
Iron Gates Natural Park, Rural Futures Conference, organized by University of
Plymouth and School of Geography, 2-4 April 2008, Plymouth, the Great Britain,
ISBN: 978-1-84102-185-0,p.1-7.
Mazilu M., Marinescu R., Perceiving Romania as a Sustainable Tourism Destination,
published in the vol. Proceedings Book of the 4th World Conference for Graduate
Research in Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure, organised by Anatolia Journal: An
International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 22nd – 27th April 2008,
Antalya, Turkey, ISBN 978-975-96260-4-4, pg. 320-330.
Snak, O., Services and Quality Management, Romanian Academy of Management,
Bucharest, 2000.
Stăncioiu A.F., Mazilu M, Căescu Şt. C, Constantinescu M., Considerations
regarding the strategic thinking in the marketing of the regional identity, article published in ,,
Economica” magazine, year XIV no.4 (December) (56)/2006, ASEM, Chişinău,
2006, ISSN 1810-9136
Stăncioiu A. F., Arsene O, Teodorescu N., Mazilu M., the SWOT Analysis of the
tourist destination – conceptual aspects – methodology. Case Study: Northern Oltenia or
Oltenia at the bottom of the Mountain- published in the vol. The International
conference Competitiveness and stability in Knowledge – Based Economy, 30-31
May 2008, Craiova, ISBN 978-606-510-162-3, pg. 600-607, Universitaria Publishing
House, Craiova.
Stănciulescu G., the Sustainable Tourism Management in the Urban Centres, the
Economic Publishing House, Bucharest, 2004
Vellas F., Tourism – Tendencies and Predictions, Walforth Publishing House,
Bucharest, 1998
The National Institute of Statistics - 2006-2009.